Weekend Box Office Report: May 19-21, 2017

The terrifying titular extraterrestrial returned to theaters this weekend and launched ALIEN: COVENANT into the top spot with an estimated opening of $36 million!

Director Ridley Scott's prequel to his ALIEN and sequel to PROMETHEUS came up short of the latter 2012 release -- PROMETHEUS opened with $51 million before continuing to a $126.4 million domestic total and $403 million worldwide.

Originally slated for an August release before getting shuttled to May, the R-rated ALIEN: COVENANT (the eighth movie in the franchise) also had a weaker start than the $38.2 million opening of monster mash ALIEN VS. PREDATOR back in 2004.

The sci-fi/horror release pitting plantary colonists against the early xenomorphs cost a reported $97 million (lower than the $130 million price tag of PROMETHEUS), and has snatched up an additional $81.8 million from international audiences for a worldwide total of $117.8 million.

Critics were generally accepting of the deep-space perils, giving ALIEN: COVENANT an average of 73% on Rotten Tomatoes. You can check out the JoBlo reviews HERE and HERE.

The Marvel sequel rocketed past $300 million domestic on its third weekend in theaters, drawing closer to the $333 million domestic finish of the first GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY in 2014.

With a worldwide total of $732.5 million so far, James Gunn's vibrant cosmic family has traveled beyond the global totals of fellow MCU releases THOR: THE DARK WORLD ($644 million), DOCTOR STRANGE ($677 million) and CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER ($714 million).

The PG-13 adaptation of Nicola Yoon's young-adult novel had a reported production cost of $10 million. Critics weren't enamored with the romance, handing it a 43% average on Rotten Tomatoes.

The R-rated kidnapping comedy SNATCHED came in fourth with $7.6 million, with 61% of its business snatched away from last week's opening. The Goldie Hawn/Amy Schumer mother-daughter pairing has a ten-day total of $32.7 million (on a $42 million reported cost).

The fourth live-action movie based on the popular Jeff Kinney books swapped in a new cast (including Tom Everett Scott stepping in for his THAT THING YOU DO! bandmate Steve Zahn), and started with the lowest debut in the series -- not even half the $14.6 million opening of DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS in 2012. Critics bullied the actor-rebooted sequel with 19% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The action-fantasy KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD was in sixth place with $6.8 million, losing 55% from its opening last weekend. With a ten-day domestic total of $27.2 million and $93 million worldwide on a cost of $175 million, director Guy Ritchie's medieval epic seems unlikely to begin an intended franchise that was planned for six movies.

THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS was still sputtering along in seventh with $3.1 million after a month-and-a-half in theaters, and the animated THE BOSS BABY was behind in eighth place with $2.8 million.

Disney's live-action BEAUTY AND THE BEAST was in ninth with $2.4 million as the fairy tale waltzed into the Top 10 highest-grossing worldwide totals with $1.22 billion, shoving aside IRON MAN 3. The romantic comedy HOW TO BE A LATIN LOVER closed out the list with $2.2 million.

Outside the chart, the Los Angeles drama LOWRIDERS drove away with THE CIRCLE and BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION.